A civil lawsuit was filed in Solano County Superior Court on Wednesday by a former Vacaville Boy Scout accusing his former scoutmaster of sexual abuse more than 30 years ago.

The allegations come from Mark Dietrich, who, in his court filing, states that he joined Troop 180 in Vacaville in 1978, when the sexual abuse began, lasting until around 1981. Dietrich, 49, a Coast Guard veteran, has brought the lawsuit against the Boy Scouts at the regional level and named his former scoutmaster, Gary Hatfield, as a defendant.

The lawsuit claims that upon their first encounter, Hatfield visited a 14-year-old Dietrich at his home and provided him with alcohol and "Immediately began grooming (Dietrich) for illegal sexual contact."

In his filing, Dietrich alleged that the scouting organization knew that Hatfield was molesting scouts from Troop 180.

Hatfield said he hardly remembered Dietrich and denied abusing him or any other scouts.

"That's a joke," Hatfield said of Dietrich's allegations.

Hatfield, 60, said he helps oversee a Nevada branch of a breakaway scouting organization called Confederate Scouts of America that split ranks with the Boy Scouts of America about 15 years ago.

The Navy veteran now works doing apartment maintenance in Reno.

Dietrich told The Associated Press that he filed the suit to reach out to other former Boy Scouts who were abused.

"My message is that it's not your fault and you have nothing to be ashamed about, and I encourage you to speak out and seek resolution and accountability," he said.

A representative for Dietrich's attorney contacted The Reporter prior to the filing on Wednesday.

Dietrich's lawyer, Irwin Zalkin, would not provide further details on the allegations. However, he said Hatfield had not been named in internal Boy Scouts of America records on adult volunteers suspected of molestation that have been made public in similar lawsuits and are widely known as the "perversion files."

According to the lawsuit, the alleged abuse caused Dietrich to develop "various psychological coping mechanisms which reasonably made him incapable of ascertaining that the conduct by Hatfield was sexual abuse or molestation, or that the conduct of Hatfield was wrongful."

It also states that Dietrich did not discover the "wrongfulness of Hatfield's conduct until approximately 1992, after which (Dietrich) filed a police report."

A hearing is set for 9:30 a.m. on May 28 in the Fairfield courtroom of Judge Harry S. Kinnicutt.